Whatever Happened To TCBY?

I was living in Rapid City at the time. It must have been the mid to late 1980's, maybe early 90's. And TCBY was opening a store in town. It would be (as I recall) in Bakken Park, a shopping center. And when it opened...wow!

The lines were out the door. Why? Well, after all, it WAS The Country's Best Yogurt!

Now, I was (and am) pretty much an ice cream kind of guy. But I was there, if not the first day pretty soon after...and I loved me some frozen yogurt. The place was busy from open to close, it seemed, every day.

TCBY was a goldmine and would never go away.

Except it did, at least in a lot of places.

It occurred to me that I hadn't seen TCBY in...well, let's just say a long time. From the days when there seemed to be one close by wherever you were to 'Gee, I wonder whatever happened to TCBY?'

Moneywise reports that from nearly 1,800 locations in the early 2000's, TCBY now has around 360 stores. Certainly not an awful number, but a lot less than they had 'back in the day'. Moneywise doesn't get into the details of why the number has dropped so dramatically, but often times it can be competition, marketing, management or for whatever reason the 'shine' has dimmed.

Over my decades on the planet, I've seen many businesses come and go, including iconic names that I was sure would be around forever. Well, nothing is forever.

But there's still over 300 TCBY's around. You just have to look a little harder.